Peter Paul Rubens .........................................................................

Lecture 32

Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577 in Siegen, Germany, where his

father (a lawyer from Antwerp) was living in a sort of exile after

imprisonment for adultery.

A

world-famous artist during his lifetime and after, Peter Paul Rubens
received innumerable commissions throughout his career. In
this lecture, we will look at some of these works, including three
altarpieces, his Marie de’Medici cycle, and self-portraits and landscapes.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577– 1640) was born in Siegen, Germany, where
his father, Jan, a lawyer from Antwerp, was living in a sort of exile after
imprisonment for adultery. He was pardoned, and the family moved to
Cologne. When Jan died in 1587, the mother and sons returned to Antwerp.
Rubens began to study painting at about 15, apprenticing with artists
working in the Mannerist style. He became a master in the Antwerp painters’
guild in 1598. In 1600, he left for Italy, and in Venice, he met the current
duke of Mantua, Vincenzo de Gonzaga. He entered the service of the duke,
the most important step in his career as a painter. In the court of Mantua
he saw Mantegna’s great frescoed chamber, as well as a large collection of
masterpieces of painting. Rubens would contribute greatly to this collection
during his eight years of service. Rubens traveled widely for the duke and
on his own account, visiting Florence, Rome, Genoa, and Spain, among
other places. He produced paintings in Rome and Genoa that clinched
his reputation.

In 1608, he returned to Antwerp after hearing of his mother’s illness. He
never resumed his service in Mantua because he was appointed court painter
to the Archdukes Albert and Isabella of the southern Netherlands. Philip II
of Spain had invaded the Netherlands because he was intent on crushing the
Protestant rebellion. The invasion of 1567 was unyielding in its attempt to
impose orthodoxy. The northern Netherlands organized in armed opposition
in 1568, beginning the Eighty Years’ War. Although it was 80 years before
a ¿ nal peace treaty was reached, a de facto peace arrived much earlier,